Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State 

The history of the Final Solution phase of the Nazi Holocaust, particularly with the most infamous of the death camps.

Stars:

Samuel West, Horst-Günter Marx, Gert Heidenreich

Cast

Series cast summary:
Samuel West	...	Narrator 6 episodes, 2005
Horst-Günter Marx	...	Rudolph Höss 6 episodes, 2005
Gert Heidenreich	...	Narrator in German version 6 episodes, 2005
Linda Hunt	...	Narrator in U.S. version 6 episodes, 2005
Klaus Mikoleit	...	Henrich Himmler 4 episodes, 2005
Dario Gabbai	...	Himself - Jewish Prisoner, Auschwitz 1944-1945 / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Oskar Gröning	...	Himself - SS Garrison, Auschwitz / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Libusa Breder	...	Herself - Jewish Prisoner, Auschwitz / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Eva Mozes Kor	...	Herself - Jewish Prisoner, Auschwitz / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Jozef Paczynski	...	Himself - Polish Political Prisoner, Auschwitz 3 episodes, 2005

Storyline

An in-depth visual and verbal account of one of the most notorious episodes of World War 2. Using location shots and combining CGI, for a 3-D realism, this is a documentary, through a timeline, showing its conception, ideals, horrors and liberation of the Death Camp that is Auschwitz and its role in "The Final Solution". Using reconstructions of key events by actors playing major Nazi hierarchical roles and real interviews from parties of all sides; ex-prisoners, old Schutzstaffel (SS) members and witnesses. Using archive footage conjoined with reflective, contemporary imagery it is a vivid and thorough historical telling of the atrocities of a political ideology that gave nothing but fear and death.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | final solution | death camp | auschwitz | ss | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Details

Official Sites:

PBS official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), KCET Hollywood

Technical Specs

Runtime:

285 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

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Alternate Versions

Also shown on 1.33:1 aspect ratio in some TV releases.

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Connections

Referenced in Hitler's Place in History: The Faking of Adolf Hitler for History (2005)

User Reviews

One of the most important documentaries of our time

I watched a lot of documentaries about the Nazi state recently. My purpose is to understand the events, the effects, that led to this horrendous massacre. This one is definitely one of the best in depth analysis and reconstruction of events. The main cause, everyone should watch these films beyond remembering, is that we still live in the system which produced the radical nationalist party that rose to power and destroyed 55 million people. Stupidity and despair hand in hand can go farther we can imagine. A lot of us think it can't happen again. But it can and is happening. No one can question the importance of these films ever. They should air this on every national television and then the people should be more aware, what it means when radicals march in uniforms on our streets as it happened not long ago in my country. Uniforms are banned, but that happened in Germany as well before they seized power. The threat is alive!

A lot of witnesses testify in this film, about the brutal truth. You may feel how crazy and surreal it all was. But the people who took part in the genocide felt justified to do it. And they thought they doing the right thing. If you want to understand in depth how it happened you may get closer by watching this film. Highly recommended!